If 2009 Topps Platinum truly is the venerable cardmaker’s final football release for a while, it’s nice to know that the granddaddy’s swansong product provides a respectful departure befitting an icon with 55 consecutive years of football trading cards under its belt.

Platinum won’t blow you away with clear-out-the-inventory excess. What it will do, based on the two boxes we opened Thursday, is provide sleek, simple aesthetics, a wealthy share of rookies, still-stunning-after-all-these-years Chrome cards and Refractors and three autographs per box – all for about $5 a pack.

Boasting a relatively simple set makeup, Platinum benefits greatly from some of the most attractive autograph Relic cards the company’s produced all year. In that sense, perhaps Topps officials were saving their best for last.